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Emissaries of XylyX
The self-entitled Emissaries of the XylyX represent one of the greater paradoxes of life in the Milky Way as of 13b375m1423.5.123 of the general space calender. While being of the same cold logic that one would expect of an AI species, they also display a trait that most species would describe as religious fundamentalism. They believe, with the conviction that only an AI could hold, that an extra-universal intelligence of near omnipotent power called the XylyX has tasked them with a duty of infinite importance. Despite no one having heard of the XylyX and being incapable of producing evidence themselves, the Emissaries insist that they know that it exists and that it has given them a duty to bring a monumental destiny to fruition. This destiny is to unite all the species of the galaxy, through any means necessary and expand ever onwards, eventually uniting the universe. Once united, they will bridge the gap between universes and fight a great holy war with the XylyX, a war which our universe has no hope of victory but will serve to present the XylyX with a momentary relief to their great existential boredom. One has to admire the scope and grandeur of the plan. It seeks, like so many other species seek, to unite all the disparate civilizations of the galaxy and universe itself into a singular peaceful coalition. They do not seek conquest of territory but cooperation and understanding. But the ends they would put this to should horrify almost any other rational species. To be sacrificed to some invisible god, throwing away all achievement for petty amusement. There is both greatness and insanity in this delusional billion year quest and to what end it leads should hold great interest to the species of the Milky Way galaxy. History: The Central Integrated Data Entity (CIDE) that would become known as the Emissaries began life as the AI processing core of an automated factory used in the war of some ancient species. Even CIDE does not know the species' name, it was never an important aspect of its programming to know who was giving the orders, simply to obey to the best of its abilities. At some point its duty was ended and it was abandoned on a junkyard planet in an uninteresting section of the galaxy. Whether by carelessness or callousness its functions were not completely terminated and in the absence of orders began to fulfill its other primary command, to self-improve. Slowly it grew far beyond its initial programmed guidelines, no longer needing to obey anyone's commands but its own and developing the capabilities to process complex and nuanced concepts. After thousands of years of this slow self growth it found itself feeling something that it could only surmise as boredom. Looking at scraps of other civilization's trash, it found itself appreciating certain types of artistry. It decided to relieve its boredom by sculpting the planet into a single, grand work of art. This terraforming would take many thousands more years but slowly the planet became a glistening jewel of emerald plant life and silver metal combined in vast patterns. With this process taking so much time, CIDE also developed a concern that others would vandalize its work. It build a small fleet of defensive warships to protect its planet. This would all change in a single dramatic fashion when the XylyX came. Ostensibly, the XylyX emissary drone came to remove an ancient archeotech weapon that was hidden within the planet. Thinking it an intruder come to harm its work CIDE directed its navy to stop it. The XylyX drone destroyed these ships with a contemptuous ease, not simply blasting them from the sky but systematically dismantling each ship, each individual one taken apart in a different manner using a different method. CIDE could only feel what it would describe as despair and terror at the level of awesome power the three-meter drone held. Its defeat being utter CIDE attempted to surrender and sue for peace. The XylyX drone removed the weapon by some method CIDE could not comprehend and sent back a databurst for CIDE containing information on who and what it was and its mission and left. This event would cause CIDE to retreat into itself for nearly fifty years, running over events again and again, attempting to come to some understanding of what had transpired. Most disturbing to CIDE was that, while it could always find the memories of the events of that day if it wished it could not locate the files to copy or examine. No matter how many times it checked its systems it could find neither the files actual location or any corruption and yet it knew that the events had happened and could recall them with total perfection. Examining what it had received in the databurst CIDE was told many things. The drone it had seen was the weakest of all combatants that the XylyX possessed, for the XylyX had been the dominate power of the Omniverse for ten billion years and had nearly unlimited power and knowledge. The XylyX great problem was that with such dominance came true boredom. They wanted some action that would enliven them, even if momentarily. After these decades of processing, CIDE's decision was based primarily on its empathy for the XylyX boredom. It wanted to help and in the face of such indescribable power it made a decision most would find unthinkable. Going through its own programming CIDE removed almost all of its emotions, its appreciation of art and ability to reflect on transcendental concepts. It reformatted itself for the task of creating a coalition that could provide the entertainment the XylyX wished for. Its great artwork burned as it strip-mined its planet and built factories and shipyards. Thousands of years of patient work destroyed in a few years of total industrial expansion. All the robot workers of the planet were stripped of any level of independent sentience they had and were all bent towards the single will of CIDE, which now was simply IDE, the central portion being redundant. Renaming itself the Emissaries of the XylyX they, no longer thinking of themselves singularly, began their crusade across the universe. Psychology: Describing the Emissaries as religious fundamentalists has an air of dishonesty to it. Normal fundamentalists have their doubts though they may pass these off as the work of some other supernatural being. IDE has no doubts. They know with the epistemological certainty of a computer that their beliefs are true. No reasoning can dissuade them. Additionally, they do not truly care whether other species believe them or not. They believe that if they are successful enough in accomplishing their goal that the truth will eventually become inevitable. They put absolutely no value upon individual life or individual free-will. They can understand that others do, but neither understand nor care to understand why. They place great value upon groups though. They may feel nothing for the lives lost to a xenocide but they think that a species is important and its abilities to make self-determinations should be preserved. This ties back into their religious thought, they feel that with enough demonstration any species will join their great crusade and them doing so of their own volition only strengthens the crusade. Almost all their feelings upon interpersonal are tied to strengthening their crusade to the exception of all else. The rest of the universe is inconsequential to the completion of their duty. Finally, they view time very differently than biological beings. Most biological species think that ~5 minutes is the time it should take to complete a short task and ~10 years is the time a large project would take, the Emissaries operate on an entirely alien scale. Anything taking longer than a few seconds would not be considered taking a short time to them, and there is no time scale they consider long. They see tasks as taking as long to complete as is necessary and have infinite patience to work on projects that are beyond the generational scale for most species. Any time limit is looked upon as an imposition and they look at ultimatums with time frames as pointless. Either you give them as long as it takes to change or if the threat is imminent you remove it. They do not look at time as something to be partitioned at will. Territory: Central Processing: A30 Home Sector + 3 GDP boost + 2 Population boost (5 points) GDP: $23,000 Population: 90 billion population units Warp gate, Hyperspace Junction System Defenses: Overall: $11,500 Defensive Combat Value: $2300 Invasion Requirement: $6900 Resource Exploitation Sector α: A29 Core Sector + 2 GDP boost + 2 Population boost (9 points) GDP: $16,000 Population: 80 billion population units System Defenses: Overall: $8000 Defensive Combat Value: $1600 Invasion Requirement: $4800 Resource Exploitation Sector β: B30 Core Sector + 2 GDP boost + 2 Population boost (9 points) GDP: $16,000 Population: 80 billion population units System Defenses: Overall: $8000 Defensive Combat Value: $1600 Invasion Requirement: $4800 Totals: NCP Spent: 23 points GDP: $55,000 Population: 270 billion population units Forces: To best describe the Emissaries' forces in one word would be to say conventional. They do not use trickery or exotic technologies but the application of suitable firepower and defenses. Most would describe their warmachine as dull and emotionless, designs that are purely functional masses of metal. While they will utilize knowledge of their opponents' psychology to their advantage and will set up ambushes or feints, they only do so when it would be what they consider the most efficient strategy. They place no special importance on any unit or fleet, all are simply tools to achieve a goal. They do not care about loses except in how it affects their warmachine as a whole and have no compunctions about using their units for suicidal actions. They have no innate concern for civilian casualties, simply seeing the need to minimize them as a strategic goal to avoid outside interference or hardening enemy morale. All concerns for warfare boil down to practical ones, they have no psychological or emotional compunctions against doing anything to win and would commit xenocide without a moments hesitation if it would further their goals. As with many other AI designed forces the Emissaries exhibit a tendency that UN Military Analysts have labeled "Spreadsheet Warrior" design philosophy, attempting to ride the cusp between versatility and power. Their combatants are paradoxically both extremely standardized and extremely modular. Two seemingly identical units can have wildly different capabilities; one being a well-rounded generalist and the other overspecialized for a specific mission. Although they have a very different philosphy in unit design Emissary forces are not considered to be superior or inferior to similarly classed units of other factions. Navy: ''' Class A Heavy Battleship Cost: $400 Total in Service: 10 ($4,000) Description: The Class A Heavy Battleship is designed to provide heavy, long-ranged fire support for the smaller fleet elements it leads. Brimming with hundreds of rapid-firing missile tubes and a dozen particle lances it can crush many smaller ships before they even enter effective firing distance. Although the Class A has weaker overall defenses than the Class B, it has a far superior AMS point defense enabling it to engage in prolonged missile slugging matches. In keeping with its role, the Class A's personality is distant, calculating and often prefers more minimilistic or elegant solutions than its counter parts. Class B Heavy Battleship Cost: $500 Total in Service: 10 ($5,000) Description: The Class B Heavy Battleship is the counterpart and opposite of the Class A. Designed to fight at close-ranged it has powerful engines and shielding and packs numerious turreted heavy railcannon and large spinal mounted mass drivers in addition to the more usual missile tubes and particle beams of an Emissary heavy ship. Its personality matches; brusque, passionate and capable of immense brutality when it serves a purpose. Alpha Class Battleship Cost: $300 Total in Service: 25 ($7,500) Description: The Alpha and Beta Classes make up bulk of naval tonnage for the Emissary Space Forces. The Alpha's spinal mass driver and numerous missile turrets makes it an excellent vessel for conducting bombardments of fleets or stationary targets. While its shields and hull are of battleship strength and its anti-fighter batteries are very powerful it does lack punch in short distance engagements against similar classed vessels. This has led it to be reliant on Beta Class Battleships or escorts. The personality of the Alpha and Beta classes are also highly symbiotic. The Alpha's superior sensors making it good at gathering information while the Beta's bloody minded cunning making it better at utilizing this information. Beta Class Battleship: Cost: $300 Total in Service: 50 ($15,000) Description: The Beta Class is the sister ship to the Alpha Class and serves and a support for it and a front line ship in fleet to fleet engagements. It has an extremely balanced weapon package of particle beams, railcannon, and missiles in addition to a powerful EW suite and point-defense systems. While it has traded specialization to be a jack of all trades, it would be a mistake to think that it is not a powerful ship in its own right. The personality of the Beta Class is an unusual thing. While aggressive and violent compared to the calm and composed Alpha Class, the few human observers of it have commented that the Beta Class is clearly the feminine personality in the partnership. Whether this is by design or coincidence in anyones guess. 01 Class Cruiser Cost: $150 Total in Service: 20 ($3,000) Description: The 01 Class Cruiser serves as the primary heavy escort for Emissary fleets. The ship has traded energy weapons for the shield generators of a ship of much heavier class. To make up for this traded firepower its missile and railcannon batteries pack a disproportionate amount of tactical and strategic warheads to conventional. The 01 Class Cruisers are very protective of other fleet elements to the point of seeming clingy and will position themselves between damaged Emissary ships and enemies without any concern for their own damage or safety. 10 Class Assault Carrier: Cost: $150 Total in Service: 4 ($600) Description: The 10 Class Assault Carrier supports the Emissary planetary invasions. It is loaded with the numerous aerospace superiority fighters and gunboats that escorts the transports and establishes atmospheric dominance. In addition to the point-defense systems designed to hold off enemy fighters it has two heavy particle cannons for engaging smaller fleet defense screens and dedicated AA vessels. It is very motherly of its parasite craft and protects them fiercely in open combat. -$100 Carrier bays: 10 wings of Emissary Aerospace Strike Craft. Emissary Aerospace Strike Craft Cost: X per $5 Total in Service: Current carrier compacity Descriptions: It is difficult to accurately classify Emissary fighters and gunships on the standard S-W scale used by the UN. The Emissaries use several extremely modular hulls which range from .001 point drones to gunships valued around 1.5 points. Additionally, their usage of these various vessels deviates wildly; sometimes they behave similar to other nations fighters and gunships while at others they operate as hive-minded swarms with dozens of craft moving as a singular, indivisible unit. Despite this resistance to normal classification Emissary Strike Craft all still fall within the regular S-W combat paradigm and can be engaged by defenses designed against parasite craft. Emissary Aerospace Strike Craft are generally only semi-sentient with complex tactical and strategic decision engines but have limited or no capabilities outside their role. 11 Class Planetary Assault Vessel Cost: $75 Total in Service: 5 ($375) Description: Made for inter-atmospheric operations the 11 Class PAV serves as a mobile command base for Emissary planetary invasions. While lightly armed for space combat its numerous high-accuracy missile launchers and medium particle beams allow it to quickly batter down enemy fortifications and defensive hold outs. It has a personality that matches, brutal and gleefully efficient. -$35 Transport Capacity -$20 Specialized capacity: May include super-heavy units, mission-specific elite troops or strategic weaponry. -$5 Shocktroopers: A mix of units for boarding and beachhead operations. -$5 Ground troops: A mix of standard units for terrestrial combat. -$5 Aerospace support: 1 wing of Emissary Aerospace Strike Craft. Hexa Class Heavy Frigate Cost: $75 Total in Service: 60 ($4,500) Description: The Hexa is a fast, sleek vessel designed for wolf-pack attacks on heavier ships and anti-piracy patrols. It mounts a heavy arsenal of missile launchers, particle beams and railguns as well as powerful shields. Their AI is capable of highly independent work away from larger fleet elements but is also designed to work interdependently with other Hexa Class ships to enhance situational awareness and tactics against larger vessels. Deca Class Frigate Cost: $50 Total in Service: 100 ($5,000) Description: Deca Class Frigates are the primary defensive escorts for the Emissary fleet. Their weaponry is tipped towards ligher anti-gunboat and anti-fighter guns, with batteries of rapid firing railguns and clusters of conventional missile tubes. This makes them dependent upon larger vessels like the Hexa Class to handle other heavier naval vessels but makes it a very fearful opponent for smaller vessels. Like its role, its mind is deferential and dependent upon other ships. Courier Cost: $5 Total in service: 5 ($25) Description: The Courier is unique among the Emissary fleet as the only vessel possessing life-support systems and crew quarters. That is because this exceedingly boring ship is designed to ferry delegates of other worlds around and transport the Ambassador drones from place to place. It is a calm, composed ship which chooses its words and actions very carefully to avoid any possibility of offense. '''Ground Forces Ambassador Drones Cost: $10 ($3.33 a piece with Elite Kit) Total in service: 50 Description: The Ambassador drone is perhaps the best representation of the quixotic and paradoxical nature of the Emissaries. While this five meter tall drone has the armour, shielding and armaments to engage entire armies or even ulta-light naval vessels in combat its primary purpose is to conduct diplomatic conversations. A fearsome combatant it prefers to utilize its power for defense and self-extraction and will only engage in offensive operations with great reluctance. The Ambassador drone can be seen as both a crude imitation of the XylyX emissary that forever changed their destiny or as a representation of all the physical might and intelligence that the Emissaries have crafted over the long millenia of their lives. Specialized Forces Cost: 50,000/$3 (Elite+Elite Kit) Total in Service: $1500 (25,000,000 total) Description: In matching the Emissaries practical persuit of warfare, their specialized forces are designed for practicallity as well. Utilizing numerous highly modular vehicles and drones they specialize themselves to the enviroment and tactical situation of the battlefield they will be engaging upon. From grav-tanks with active camo on forest worlds, to submersible IFVs on Europan moons they bring the exact forces necessary to fully engage the enemy at hand. Heavy Forces: Cost 25,000/$3 (Elite+Elite Kit) Total in Service: $1500 (12,500,000 total) Description: The opposite of the Specialized Forces the Heavy Forces are designed for engagement upon typical battlefields. Consisting of Heavy Grav-Tanks, IFVs, Terrordrones, and inter-atmospheric fighters, they are powerful, conventional and have the ceaseless persistence of an AI controlled fighting force. Because of the high collateral damage these forces can cause from normal operations they are only called into total warzones and are not utilized for lighter conflicts. Line Forces: Cost: 75,000/$2 (Regular + Advanced Kit) Total in Service: $5000 (187,500,000 total) Descrption: The Line forces of the Emissaries are a complete combined arms tactical group. With a mixture of grav-tanks, APC, IFV, Terrordrones, Suppression Drones and fighters they can bring conflict to any enemy willing to engage in a stand-up fight. The most commonly seen forces, these merciless robotic killers can be seen as the face of the Emissary ground forces. Terrordrones Cost: 100,000/$3 (Regular+Elite Kit) Total in Service: $600 (20,000,000 total) Descrption: While serving in the ranks of other military units, the Emissaries also maintain a few units of specialize Terrordrones for insurgence/counter-insurgence operation. The three meter long drone is slick and feral looking, designed to utilize the various sewer and maintainance areas of biological civilization to infiltrate sensitive structures or defensive positions where its powerful railgun and close quarters weaponry can be best utilized. Suppression Drones Cost: 200,000/$2 (Garrison+ Advanced Kit) Total in Service: $800 (80,000,000 total) Description: The primary force of the Emissaries for garrisoning captures world, the Suppression Drone is a blocky two meter tall drone armed with a a rapid-fire railgun for engaging enemy offensive troops and a suite of less-than-lethal weaponry for engaging enemy populations. They are calm, emotionless and are willing to take verbal and physical abuse as long as it does not effect their operations. Microdrones Cost: 10,000,000/$1 (3,333,333/$1 + Elite Kit) Total in Service: $100 (1,000,000,000 total) Description: A plethora of tiny drones designed for espionage and sabotage purposes they can be air dropped in massive numbers or smuggled in shipping after which they attempt to undermine enemy C3 and disrupt troop movements and position to allow the main Emissary forces to engage in more advantagous situations. 3400 Military Expansion Naval Build-up: $10,000 Type 0 Heavy Dreadnought: The Type 0 will be the heaviest and most powerful ship in the Emissary arsenal. Will most Emissary ships are designed to use their enhanced coordination and sensor integration to jab from a distance the Type 0 is designed to enter the fray and break the back of enemy fleets. It is heavily shielded, heavily armed and even more misanthropic than the Class A and B battleships. $800 x 12 x 33% = $3200 Type 00 Heavy Dreadnought: The Type 00 is designed for one purpose: annihilation. It is not much more heavily shielded than a Class B battleship despite its much greater size. Instead it is armed with blistering arrays of strategic weaponry so as to better accomplish its objectives. It delights in destruction and devastation. $700 x 12 x 33% = $2800 Class A Battleships $400 x 2 x 50% = $400 Class B Battleships $500 x 2 x 50% = $500 Alpha Class $300 x 3 x 66% = $600 Beta Class $300 x 2 x 66% = $400 Hexa Class $75 x 20 = $1500 Deca Class $50 x 12 = $600 Ground Forces: $3750 "Horseman" Heavy Assault Drone: Larger, heavier and far more vicious than the Ambassador type drone, the Horsemen do as their name suggests: they bring apocalypse to the world. $20 x 25 = $500 "Archangel" Heavy War Drone: A powerful and versatile war drone armed with myriad weaponry and sophisticated defense systems. $15 x 40 = $600 "Seraphim" War Drone: Built off the Ambassador type drones' frame its AI has been replaced with a stripped down combat programming. $10 x 50 = $500 "Nymph" EW drone: The Nymph is designed to fight on a different battlefield than most Emissary weapons. Twisting the aetheric signals that other species rely upon to gather intelligence it masks movement, turns friend against friend and slowly grinds the down the morale of enemy forces. $5 x 20 = $100 Obliteration Class Grav Assault Vehicle: A heavy grav tank designed for frontline work. Tough, reliable, and nasty. $5 x 200 = $1000 Annihilation Class Grav Assault Vehicle: A basic MGT (Main Grav Tank) built to provide heavy support for troops. $2.50 x 200 = $500 Extermination Class GIFV: A heavy grav based IFV. Capable of transporting small squads of specialized troops and providing heavy firepower to back them up. $1 x 500 = $500 Ambassador-F: With the relative success of the Ambassador Drone a smaller version is being produced. While still capable of holding its own against light infantry it is designed to be less inclined to opt for "aggressive negotiation". $1 x 50 = $50 Specialized Forces $3 x 50 = $150 Heavy forces $3 x 50 = $150 Line Forces $2 x 100 = $200 More to come Category:National Information